BY CATHY CARROLL
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. -- Philadelphia and Maui might seem worlds
apart, but the two destinations are linked to the beginnings of
Haddon Holidays.
The $40 million wholesaler of tours to Hawaii sprang from tours
the company created in 1975 involving celebrities from the City of
Brotherly Love.
Haddon Holidays president Ralph Caliri said his background as
president and part owner of a Philadelphia television station
spurred the idea for the celebrity tours to Ha-waii.
"We had some retail agencies and formed a wholesale arm with
celebrity tours. We had a lot of contacts with local ballplayers,
disk jockeys, and my partner was a local radio and TV personality,"
said Caliri, who also is a certified public accountant and former
investment banker.
Caliri marketed the tours through Haddon Travel, four retail
agencies in the Philadelphia area that he used to own.
"We did about eight or 10 departures a year, with people paying
$400 per person," he said.
"We did that for three or four years and then started to get
other travel agencies wanting to sell the trips, but there was not
enough margin of profit to pay commission, so we adjusted the
pricing and began marketing to other agencies and became a true
wholesaler," Caliri said.
The business grew, attracting sales in Washington, New York,
Baltimore, Chicago and Florida.
Last year, Haddon Holidays sold 25,000 tours, with the average
daily call volume during peak season reaching 2,000, Caliri
said.
He sees the Internet as an important key to boosting those
numbers.
"We think there's a huge opportunity for the leisure market, and
savvy and intelligent agents can capitalize on it because it
presells the client," he said.
Caliri said that, every day, his reservations staff reports that
someone has booked a tour through an agent after printing a page
from the company's Web site.
"Instead of that unstructured conversation with an agent, they
come in and are presold," he said.
The Internet eases the skepticism that plagues the
customer-agent relationship, he said.
When visiting retail agencies in large malls, Caliri said, he
would observe people come to the window and look inside but not
come in.
"Or they grab a brochure and leave because they are intimidated.
They think they will be sold something they are not sure they want,
and it is a lot of money," he said.
With the Internet, however, customers can browse a site, learn
about a destination and hotels and are more inclined to ask an
agent's advice.
The company currently has no plans to sell directly to consumers
through the Internet, Caliri said.
"It's all directed to travel agents now, but as it evolves, who
knows?" he said.
Haddon Holidays also will build Web sites free for agents.
"We can build a seven- or eight-page Web site, and the agency
can promote whatever it wants, but it also must promote our Hawaii
products and have its Hawaii section linked to our site," he
said.
So far, the company has built 1,500 Web sites for agents, Caliri
said.
The company has not added any new destinations in the past year,
but it did introduce the Hawaii Honeymoon.
A full-color brochure detailing the product creates demand
beyond honeymooners while also targeting the newlyweds, Caliri
said.
The company's pricing ranges from $800 per person for Honolulu
to $7,000 for a 16-night, three-island trip with five-star hotels
and first class air, he said.
Over the years, Caliri said, he has seen Hawaii become more
independent as a destination.
"There's not a fixed itinerary. Now clients tell us what they
want. We can't tell them what they want," he said.
One of the biggest problems tour operators face, he said, is
inadequate promotion funding on the part of destinations such as
Hawaii.
For the past six years, Haddon Holidays has sponsored a series
of trade seminars called "Share the Spirit," a four-night event
held annually in four major cities across the U.S.
"We reach 1,000 agents and have Hawaiian entertainers,
hoteliers, and a mini-trade show.
"Then we have a presentation and break the audience into smaller
groups that meet with individual hoteliers, and then we have
dinner," he said.
Haddon Holidays sells tours through 7,500 agencies annually,
with commission overrides of up to 18%, based on productivity,
Caliri said.